Rana Sagha Zadeh, M.Arch., Ph.D., Associate AIA, LEED AP, EDAC, is a tenure-track assistant professor and the co-director of the Health Design Innovations Lab (HDIL, affiliated with the Institute for Healthy Futures) in the Department of Design & Environmental Analysis at Cornell University.
Dr. Zadeh’s interests include healthcare design, evidence-based design, and the translation and application of scientifically tested research and design innovation into real-life practice, products, and policies to meet real-world problems. HDIL is currently working on several projects about improving patients’ quality of life, managing symptoms, optimizing built work environments, and assessing the life-cycle costs and the business case for design interventions that target improving human health and performance.
One focus is the development of low-cost, high-impact, non-pharmacological system solutions to improve quality of life and manage patient symptoms, thereby minimizing the need for medication and medical procedures for patients with advanced and chronic illnesses, particularly in end-of-life, geriatric, and acute-care settings. HDIL is committed to working with national and local partners to advance innovations in palliative care. In collaboration with medical, nursing, and engineering experts, HDIL is developing evidence-based educational programs for caregivers, as well as novel technological interventions for patients to measure and manage symptoms and improve their safety and quality of life.
Other ongoing focuses are economic evaluation of improvements in care environments and novel design and engineering solutions to optimize medical workplaces and improve alertness, productivity, efficiency, and patient satisfaction.
Currently partnered with faculty in Engineering, Fiber Science and Apparel Design, and Physics, HDIL is participating in user assessment, product development, and commercialization and testing of new products to reduce building energy use and improve occupant productivity and safety using novel low-cost and high-accuracy new technology.
Dr. Zadeh’s team received the Innovation Incubator Award and the Novel Technology Award from the Clinical and Translational Science Center and Weill Cornell Medical College. She also received the Center for Health Design’s 2012-13 New Investigator Award for her high-quality research in the field of evidence-based healthcare facility design and the 2013 Architectural Research Centers Consortium’s King Medal for innovation, integrity, and scholarship in environmental design research. Read about the Health Design Innovations Lab: http://hdil.human.cornell.edu/ Find our recent guidebook on design for end-of-life care settings: https://www.fgiguidelines.org/resources/